Ever wonder if race car drivers have fear like all of us do and if their fast experience
on racetracks reduces the thrills they get off the track? This series will probe that mystery by posing one question to top drivers in the world who race sanctions like NASCAR, NHRA and IndyCar
Does the adventure and adrenaline you feel as a race car driver make off-track activities seem tame, or less of a thrill for you?
As a prelude to this extensive question quest, answers to that question begin with drivers in the Nationwide Series, ARCA Racing Series, Grand-Am Series and World of Outlaws sprint cars. Most of the following drivers have vast experience that spans many decades. They should know adventure.
Stephen Leicht [NASCAR Nationwide Series]
“I don’t think so,” Leicht said. “I think that’s why we do it. You’re looking for that edge you find on the racetrack off the track. Personally I’m an adrenaline junkie so any time I do those things is to try to feel the same way I do in a race car. Nothing every really comes close to it.”
Bobby Gerhart [ARCA Racing Series legend]
“I don’t consider myself too much of a risk-taker. I don’t fly helicopters or stuff like that. I do ride a motorcycle. Outside of that, this is all I do.”
Road course specialists compete often on tracks where experienced oval drivers race infrequently. They are a different breed of driver as they race sleek sport cars on twisting tracks.
Scott Pruett [Grand-Am champion]
“My wife and I write children’s books and I also got a vineyard and a little winery so it’s pretty much the opposite ends of the spectrum, the things I do.”
Joao Barbosa [Grand-Am standout]
“Not really,” Barbosa said. “My main goal is to race a race car, of course. But the outside activities, you know, just try to spend time and, of course, to improve every capability you have to be able to perform your job at its best when you drive a race car, everything that's involved about racing a race car. I don't think we have something special. Everybody is born with some kind of talent, either for race cars or to do something else.”
Sprint car champion Donny Schatz describes racing a sprint car like riding on a rocket even though he has never rode a rocket. Sprint car fans are accustomed to the powerful race cars, some with wings flying around a dirt track at nervous speeds.
Donny Schatz [WoO sprint car champion]
“Nah. You do it so much it’s kind a common,” Schatz said. “It’s like getting up in the morning. You don’t get excited about it. You go do what you do. You enjoy it the whole time. You try to make it more fun every day. It does kind of get daily, just because you do it so much. You take it for granted sometimes. Some of us don’t realize how lucky we are. We don’t know what we have.”
Steve Kinser [WoO sprint car legend]
“I don’t know,” Kinser said. “Anytime you get racing in your blood like me and Tony (Stewart) have, we grew up around tracks. He’s got a love for the sport, whether it be winged, non-winged cars, modifieds, late models. It’s fun for a guy like me to work for a guy who has that much talent.”
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